Six Yogas of Naropa,” works to directly reveal emptiness to one's own direct experience. This is achieved by meditating directly on one's own mind. Mahamudra is not listed as a separate yoga, because it is the basis of all six.

The practices associated with mahamudra draw upon instructions from multiple levels of Buddhism, to provide a range of approaches to enlightenment suited to the needs of various practitioners. Mahamudra is believed to enable one to realize the mindstream's innate purity, clarity and perfection, summed up by the term “buddha nature.”

The practice of the Six Yogas begins with tummo, or “inner fire yoga.” This is a technique of refining subtle bodily chemistry and energy flow by working with inner fire, the powers of sun and moon in the body. Mastery of inner fire quickly brings the mind to its most refined and penetrating state, the experience of radiance combined with bliss, an extraordinarily powerful state of mind that is unequaled in its ability to directly realize ultimate reality.

Gyulü is a practice of working with the illusory or subtle body endowed with the qualities of a Buddha. It takes the refined states of body and mind accomplished by means of tummo, and applies these within three contexts: the yoga of the waking state; the yoga of sleep and dreams; and the bardo yoga. Thus gyulu involves two of the six yogas: illusory body and also the yoga of sleep and dreams.

The fourth yoga, known as osel, or clear light, teaches the tantric practitioner how to maintain an inner posture of formless radiance in all situations.

These four are the basis or main body of the practice, and are designed to produce enlightenment in one lifetime for the ordinary practitioner. The remaining two – powa, or transference of consciousness at the time of death, and the bardo yoga, or training in how to apply yoga in the bardo state following the moment of death, are branch or supplementary yogas, for those who make good progress in the training, but fail to attain final enlightenment before the moment of death falls.

The four foundation yogas, or "main body of the trainings":

Tummo: The Yoga of Inner HeatGyulu: The Illusory Body Yoga.Milam Naljor: The Yoga of Sleep and DreamOsel Naljor: The Yoga of the Clear Light Mind

The two auxiliary yogas:

Powa: The yoga of consciousness transference to be mastered, for application in the moments leading up to death.Bardo Yoga: The application to be mastered for application after the moment of death.

The great master Lama Tubten Yeshey once said, “We really need tantra these days because there is a tremendous explosion of delusion and distraction.... We need the atomic energy of inner fire to blast us out of our delusion.”

The aim of this retreat is to actually taste the experience of inner fire rather than merely gain an intellectual understanding. Glenn’s own realization of the transformative power of these practices comes through, inspiring retreatants to discover for themselves their own capacity for inexhaustible bliss.

Glenn Mullin has taught tantric Buddhist meditation and yoga in over thirty countries around the world, and is the author of more than two dozen books on Central Asian Buddhist culture. He divides his time between writing, teaching, meditating, and leading tour groups to the power places of Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan and Mongolia.

This looks interesting, but if you look at the schedule, there are only 5 days of actual retreat practice! That seems like hardly enough time to learn one of the Six Yogas, let alone all six plus Mahamudra.

Perhaps I'm too cynical, but that whole website seems to just be about serving up short-term exotic adventures for the affluent.

Luke wrote:This looks interesting, but if you look at the schedule, there are only 5 days of actual retreat practice! That seems like hardly enough time to learn one of the Six Yogas, let alone all six plus Mahamudra.

Perhaps I'm too cynical, but that whole website seems to just be about serving up short-term exotic adventures for the affluent.

Your probably right Luke, everyone knows you need at least 3 weeks to master the Six Yogas.

Although I do want to thank Phantom for posting this, because it gives us a lot of important issues to discuss.

I think that combining adventurous travel in Asia with Dharma teachings can be a good idea, but I just think that a topic could be chosen which could actually be covered well within the duration of the trip.

Another thing is that I didn't see any prerequisites mentioned on that page. I saw a link for a reading list, which didn't seem to work. But it seems a bit odd that no prerequisites (other than money) were mentioned on the main page. Perhaps requiring participants to actually be Buddhist and to have at least started Ngondro might be a good idea??

If the company wants to run trips which are open to anyone with money, then it might be better to choose some topics which would benefit even non-Buddhists and Buddhists who don't meditate regularly.

Also, I wonder how much of the fee for the travel package goes into the local Mongolian economy or to the Mongolian Buddhist monasteries which the participants will visit? I know some Buddhist monasteries in India where 333 US dollars is enough to support a monk there for a whole year!

I don't know for sure, but my feeling is that one would be able to benefit more beings by giving money directly to the local lamas and monasteries and perhaps hiring a translator.

If anyone has ever travelled in Asia and received teachings from lamas or other Buddhist teachers there, I'd love to hear their opinions about these issues.

It appears prices got a lot higher in Mongolia. I mean, if it costs $2000 there, while in the USA (not exactly the cheapest place on Earth) it is "merely" $625-775 (see here) there certainly must be some quality difference. Or not. Perhaps it is that Glenn Mullin has a higher price than Gyume Khensur Rinpoche. I don't know.

"There is no such thing as the real mind. Ridding yourself of delusion: that's the real mind."(Sheng-yen: Getting the Buddha Mind, p 73)

Luke wrote:I think that combining adventurous travel in Asia with Dharma teachings can be a good idea, but I just think that a topic could be chosen which could actually be covered well within the duration of the trip.

Another thing is that I didn't see any prerequisites mentioned on that page. I saw a link for a reading list, which didn't seem to work. But it seems a bit odd that no prerequisites (other than money) were mentioned on the main page. Perhaps requiring participants to actually be Buddhist and to have at least started Ngondro might be a good idea??

If the company wants to run trips which are open to anyone with money, then it might be better to choose some topics which would benefit even non-Buddhists and Buddhists who don't meditate regularly.

Also, I wonder how much of the fee for the travel package goes into the local Mongolian economy or to the Mongolian Buddhist monasteries which the participants will visit? I know some Buddhist monasteries in India where 333 US dollars is enough to support a monk there for a whole year!

I don't know for sure, but my feeling is that one would be able to benefit more beings by giving money directly to the local lamas and monasteries and perhaps hiring a translator.

Here is a response by Glenn Mullin, if one wants to write him with more questions, go to his website to contact him.

Hello from Toronto airport. I have finished my 35 city US teaching tour, and am returning to Mongolia via Korea.

Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche used to say, "Opinions are like warm piss. Everyone has their own."

Of course it is good to give donations to the local monasteries. I highly recommend that, and list 30 or so projects on my website, www.glennmullin.com. But nobody in Mongolia is very well versed in the Six Yogas.

As for doing something more general, it's not my style. My own belief is that tantra is self secret. Only those with the karma will show up.

For the record, my doubts were about the tour company and not about Glenn Mullin himself. I don't think there's anything wrong with being suspicious of businesses because there are so many unethical ones in the world. As consumers, citizens, and Buddhists we have to be alert.